When you’re an Architect

Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love being an Architect. I’ve been an Architect almost as long as I haven’t been an Architect (don’t try to do the math, please) and at this point I really can’t imagine doing anything else. Actually, I can’t imagine “being” anything else. It’s become more than a profession. It’s become part of the definition of who I am. But, no one really told me it would change every aspect of my perception of the world. No one told me it was going to get under my skin.

No one ever told me, that when you’re an Architect:

You won’t be able to afford your own taste

You’ll notice everything that is even slightly out of alignment

You’ll never look at a building without “reading” the architecture. You’ll only analyze a space, you won’t just experience it. You’ll be a bystander…

You’ll be endlessly fascinated with natural light and shadows

You won’t be able to let anything go, your brain will spin, you won’t sleep

You won’t be able to talk to anyone about what you do. No one will know what an Architect does

You’ll be weary and content at the same time

Your back will hurt

You’ll be less respected than you thought

Your shyness will be interpreted as arrogance

You’ll be working on your craft for years, you’ll never feel like you’ve mastered it, but you’ll keep at it, everyday, again, again

You’ll remember every single thing you did wrong on a project, and that will keep you from seeing everything you did right

You’ll want to put everything in order, always… But, you may choose not to do that

When you’re young, your heros will be irrelevant. You’ll figure that out when you get older

You’ll know a lot less about construction than you thought you would

You’ll mark the milestones in your life by the projects you were working on at the time

You’ll come to know a little about everything, you’ll know a lot about just a few things

You’ll begin to see the built environment as a continuously evolving form, built piece by piece by generations of individual efforts. – You’ll begin to see balance between individuality and community

You’ll often have an opportunity to be the center of attention, but, you won’t know how to take advantage of that